Gonzalez and Mayer attend NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum

IRVING, Texas – Two student-athletes from the University of Dallas attended the NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum held in Phoenix, Arizona, from April 7-10. Junior men’s basketball player Lorenzo Gonzalez (San Antonio, Texas) and junior women’s soccer player Cascade Mayer (Kapaa, Hawaii) represented the Crusaders. Participation in this forum includes student-athletes from NCAA Division I, III, and III institutions. At the Division III level, there are four regions that rotate each year. Dallas is listed in Region Four and had the turn this year to send a pair of representatives.

The attendees at the forum were divided into different groups, and went through a rotation of learning about different leadership methods. Student-athletes prior to the breakout sessions had to respond to a personality test. From that, four groups were pre-selected with a variety of leadership strengths and backgrounds.

In those groups there were leadership skills, characteristics of leadership, how to handle or respond to different situations that got discussed. Some other specific focus topics included: communication and how to interact with your teammates and coaches.

Gonzalez and Mayer elaborated a bit on each other their individual experiences at the forum.

“I thought it was really great. It helped me realize what type of leader I was, Gonzalez reflected. “I thought there were only certain types of leaders, but now I know that there several forms of leadership. I believe it will help me be a better leader, because the experience better prepared me of what type of leadership response to use depending on the situation I am facing.”

Mayer was energized and inspired from the trip. “The day I came back I was super pumped and on this high of leadership passion. Being surrounded by so many people who were willing to do whatever it takes to be a leader was just a great energy to be around.”

Mayer continued, “No matter what division or where you came from, everyone was on the same level. You could see so much passion and drive from each individual since you were selected to be a leader from your school. It was just really cool to have all of that energy all in the same room.”

Both UD student-athletes are members of the Student Athletic Advisory Committee (SAAC). The duo also serve as team captains for their respective sports. Already in natural leadership roles, these leadership sessions helped enhance and teach new depth in how Gonzalez and Mayer can grow as leaders themselves.

Gonzalez acknowledged his strength of leadership “is to lead by example.” He also is compelled to focus on strategic leadership. He explained, “That is to figure different ways to potentially solve an issue and use the most efficient method that would solve the problem.”

Mayer had a few lessons she learned from the sessions. Her favorite was Power of Positivity. Mayer stated, “Being positive to your teammates and making sure your teammates feel all your positive energy all the time.” This includes both on and off the field. “Building bonds between you and your teammates, as well as your coach,” Mayer acknowledges as an important lesson. “You will be able to interact with people in a much more productive and positive way.”

Both student-athletes enjoyed the experience and captured the motivation from the leadership forum.

“The coolest part of the conference is you are put into this room of all these different leaders who have such different leadership styles,” Mayer exclaimed. “It was neat to have a situation thrown out on the table, and see how different solutions could solve the same problem. It was just from a different perspective.”

Gonzalez was grateful, stating, “It really means a lot to be able to represent the University of Dallas, a small school from Irving, Texas, at this leadership forum that had hundreds of student-athletes from across the nation. I felt really significant to be able to do that for the athletics program. I feel like people can trust me to represent the school, and I want to thank those that gave me this opportunity for that respect.”

To read more about the Student-Athlete Leadership Forum, click here.